All's well at your mother's,[31] and I keep an eye on her. I have undertaken to pay L. Cincius 20,400 sesterces[32] to your credit on the Ides of February. Pray see that I receive at the earliest possible opportunity what you say in your letters that you have bought and secured for me. I should also be very much obliged if you would, as you promised, think over the means of securing the library for me. My hope of getting the one enjoyment which I care for, when I come to retire, depends entirely on your kindness. [Footnote 31: The mother of Atticus lived to be ninety, dying in B.C. 33, not long before Atticus himself, who at her funeral declared that "he had never been reconciled to her, for he had never had a word of dispute with her" (Nep. _Att._ 17).] [Footnote 32: This sum (about £163) is for the works of art purchased for the writer by Atticus.] IV (A I, 9) [Sidenote: B.C. 67. Coss., C. Calpurnius Piso, M. Acilius Glabrio.] The year of Cicero's election to the prætorship. It is the year also of Pompey's great commission by the _lex Gabinia_ against the Pirates. But Cicero does not seem as yet much concerned with "foreign politics." TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) ROME [Sidenote: B.C. 67, ÆT. 39] I get letters from you far too seldom considering that you can much more easily find people starting for Rome than I to Athens: considering, too, that you are more certain of my being at Rome than I of your being at Athens. For instance, it is owing to this uncertainty on my part that this very letter is somewhat short, because not being sure as to where you are, I don't choose my confidential talk to fall into strange hands. The Megaric statues and the Hermæ, which you mentioned in your letters, I am waiting for impatiently. Anything you have of the same kind which may strike you as worthy of my "Academia," do not hesitate to send, and have complete confidence in my money-chest. My present delight is to pick up anything particularly suitable to a "gymnasium." Lentulus promises the use of his ships. I beg you to be zealous in these matters. Thyillus begs you (and I also at his request) to get him some writings of the Eumolpidæ.[33] V (A I, 8) TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) ROME [Sidenote: B.C. 67, ÆT. 39]